I adore Alfie, actually all of Shirley Hughes’ work really. Dogger, which I have written about before on the blog, is one of those books that I can remember vividly from my childhood.

I was thrilled a year or so ago when I picked up a copy of The Alfie Treasury in an op shop in amazing condition for a couple of dollars. Ned has treasured it.

The reason that Alfie is endearing is because he is so like every pre school child. Children can relate to him as his stories are normal everyday occurrences in their lives. He gets new shoes, gets locked in the house, he gets babysat, goes to a birthday party and plays with his little sister, Annie Rose.

Shirley’s illustrations are comforting and homely. Her detail is delightful, there is always so much going on in each picture that you can pour over for hours and still see something new.

Each story has connections from another story. For example when Alfie is being babysat by Mrs MacNally’s Maureen his new yellow boots from the previous story Alfie’s Feet are sitting in the hall next to the stroller.

Our favourite Alfie story has to be Alfie Gets In First. Alfie and mum and Annie Rose are coming home from the shops. Annie Rose is tired, mum is flustered and Alfie runs through the front door banging it behind him leaving mum and Annie Rose on the front steps.

Alfie can’t reach the handle to open the door and soon the whole neighborhood is involved in trying the get the door open.

I love this story because I know how mum feels and how easily this could happen to us and Ned loves it for the same reason. He totally relates to Alfie’s predicament and we often talk about what it would be like if it did happen to us.

Last month children’s book museum, The Illustration Cupboard in London, had an exhibition to celebrate 30 years of Alfie.

Watch this clip of Shirley Hughes explaining some of the illustrations displayed in the exhibition – one of which is one of the illustrations from Alfie Get’s In First.

Happy birthday Alfie! We love you.

If you’d like some more Alfie then pop over to the website that publisher Random House UK have set up for the 30th anniversary. The website has some great colour and activity printables that are perfect for the school holidays.

I love monkey too! Find out more on creator Suzanne Kaufman’s website here.

And here is the trailer for the film, which unfortunately I missed at the Festival and will be eagerly awaiting Madman releasing on DVD…

This is the current blurb about the book…

‘There is a wonder and magic to childhood. We don’t realize it at the time, of course . . . yet the adults in our lives do. They encourage us to see things in the stars, to find joy in colors and laughter as we play.

But what happens when that special someone who encourages such wonder and magic is no longer around? We can hide, we can place our heart in a bottle and grow up . . . or we can find another special someone who understands the magic. And we can encourage them to see things in the stars, find joy among colors and laughter as they play.’

Oliver Jeffers is my all time favourite illustrator and author. The enjoyment of his picture books transcends age as they contain such beautiful messages and from reading the blurb above this one will be no exception. Watch this wonderful clip and be fascinated by the world of Oliver Jeffers…

You can read our posts about Collecting Colour here (including an interview with author and illustrator Kylie Dunstan) and about How to Heal a Broken Wing here.

Robin Klein is indelibly linked with my memories of primary school years. The school ballot for Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Awards, waiting lists for books at our library, and swapping favourite books with my friends – all these aspects of my late primary school years feature Robin Klein’s books. 

Klein’s series of Penny Pollard books stand out as being some of my favourite books of primary school, starting with Penny Pollard’s Diary. It’s written in the irresistable style of a diary by 10-year-old Penny, who hates pink, loves horses and is definitely not the teacher’s pet. Penny meets the equally idiosyncratic Mrs Edith Bettany (‘Mrs B’) on a school excursion to an old people’s home, and this first book follows the development of their friendship. There are some fabulously funny passages as the two swap stories.

Mrs B told me she used to have a carpet snake for a pet when she was my age and lived in the bush. Wow! Next to a horse, a snake would be the best pet ever! Told Mrs Bettany about when I was in kindergarten and I wanted a pet snake and mum kept saying Santa might bring one. And that Christmas I found a stupid big patchwork stuffed snake under Christmas tree. Mrs Bettany agreed it must have been a terrible disappointment. I told her about trying to flush patchwork snake down loo only it wouldn’t fit. She said when she lived in the bush they kept a stick to kill real snakes with next to their loo because it was miles down backyard. Told her there weren’t miles any more, only kilometres.

Mrs B appreciates Penny’s taste for double-headed lime Interplanteary Missiles from the milkbar and in turn Penny learns about how different – and how similar – life was growing up in the 1920s. And unexpectedly, both gain much from their unusual friendship. The feelings of not always living up to expectations and of being a bit different to everyone else are concepts that most primary school kids can relate to, and I think it is this aspect that my friends and I all loved so much in Robin Klein’s writing.

The diary is made to look ‘real’ with sketch drawings, photos and hand-drawn maps – all annotated by Penny. The illustrations are actually by Ann James, who does an amazingly convincing job. The original design is an exercise book-sized production, and the cover design graffiti no doubt inspired my own secret diary cover which I started in Grade 5 (and which I surprisingly managed to find this evening… The big question is: where is the key?!).

For some reason, the Penny Pollard books went out of print for many years, and I remember when working in bookshops being asked for them many, many times. They were thankfully re-issued by Hachette Australia in 2004 – but unfortunately (in my opinion) the format was not retained and they are now regular sized mass market paperbacks. As I had only borrowed copies when I first read them, I felt very lucky when I found the first two books from the series at the Lake Daylesford Book Barn a few years ago. Just a couple more books that I will treasure…

we ♥ books – Collecting Colour traces the story of the interaction between a young white Australian and a young Indigenous Australian? What inspired this story?

Collecting Colour was inspired during a year I spent working as an arts officer for Injalak Art Centre in Gunbalanya (Oenpelli), Arnhem Land in 2007/08. Injalak is a community owned and operated association, forming an important creative and social centre for the Gunbalanya community.

The artists from this area are known for their ‘x-ray’ paintings, done using natural ochres and fine ‘rarrk’ lines and their stunning woven pandanus baskets mats and bags.

Part of my job was to take the ladies who made the fibre art ‘out bush’ to collect the pandanus leaves and ‘colour’ – natural dyes used to make the baskets. The term ‘collecting colour’ was used by the weavers and it was from this phrase that the idea for the book grew.

For me, Collecting Colour is as much about friendship as it is about learning an Indigenous Australian cultural activity. Of course, the skeleton of the story is built around the process of making the fibre art but at the core of the book is a contemporary cross-cultural friendship between two little girls.

we ♥ books – Tell us about the work space where you wrote and illustrated Collecting Colour

After leaving Arnhem Land my partner and I traveled overseas. It was during this period that I wrote ‘Collecting Colour’.

After writing the first draft it was put aside for many years – and almost forgotten -until in 2004 (when living in Melbourne) I decided to apply for the ASA (Australian Society of Authors) mentorship program and needed a second manuscript to submit. After some reworking Collecting Colourwas submitted and I was offered a mentorship to work with Sally Rippin on its development.

The illustrations were completed in Adelaide, where for the first time I had a house that would fit my enormous drawing desk (salvaged many years ago from the drafting department of a Broken Hill mine). It would only fit in the living area but the light was great so I would illustrate the book while my youngest daughter, who was a baby at the time, slept or was with her Nana.

we ♥ books – What is the significance of the CBCA nomination for you? Where to from here for Collecting Colour?

The CBCA shortlist was such a high! As your typical insecure artistic type, getting a pat on the back from my peers was invaluable. It assured me that this career path was indeed the right choice for me. Hopefully for Collecting Colourit will mean increased exposure and more readers.

we ♥ books – Can you tell us about your work as an illustrator? When did you start illustrating and when did you know it would become your career? What formal or informal training did you have in collage techniques?

I have always wanted to write and illustrate picture books (yes, I am one of those people). However, somehow I ended up studying Visual Arts at University. After my degree I worked in Art Galleries and Museums until 2004 when I started to concentrate on my illustrations.

I don’t have any formal training in collage techniques, it’s just a style that has developed over the years. I like to use different techniques for different books and find I exhaust myself of one technique and develop a new one while working on a book.

we ♥ books – What’s your favourite colour?

My kids would probably say green as I seem to be quite drawn to it, but I like most colours – it’s the shades and tones of them that are important to me. 

we ♥ books – Are there any particular websites or blogs that you visit regularly? Can you share with us some of your favourites?

I discovered ‘blogland’ when we moved to Vietnam last year and it has become quite a lifeline for me. My favorites list is endless but I really like Jacky Winter for some very talented illustrators, Book By It’s Cover and too many illustrators websites to mention.

The Design Files to give me a Melbourne/Design fix, LMNOP, Bloesem and B-Kids for lovely design from around the world, Garance Dore and The Satorialist  for great street fashion… the list goes on.

we ♥ books – What were your favourite books when you were little?

The one that I still remember the words for is The Best Nest.

I think even at the age of five I related to Mrs Bird but probably even more so now (my partner will attest to this) – we move houses a lot!.

we ♥ books - We understand you have just finished your second picture book for Lothian. What can you tell us about it? Any chance of a sneak-peak?

Because You Are With Me, is in production now and due for release in early 2010. It’s quite different from Collecting Colouralthough I have used the lokta paper and a collage technique. The story revolves around a little girl, her dad and all she can achieve when they are together.

Some illustrations from the upcoming Because You Are With Me…

On the front cover of The Age newspaper today there is a stunning illustration and poem, ‘From the Shadows’, written in response to the Victorian bushfires by the amazing Graeme Base, author and illustrator of incredible picture books such as Animalia and Enigma.

Prints of the illustration can purchased through The Age’s photo sales department with all profits of the sales going to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal 2009.

I love observing Ned watching other children and I can often see in his eyes the hope that they will notice him and talk to him, not in a sad way, just a hopeful, inquisitive way. He is never afraid to inch closer to another child and quietly join in to a game or garbled conversation.

Recently I have taken my favorite picture book about friendship off the shelf and I hope to start reading it to Ned soon.  Leon and Bob by Simon James is a simple but really powerful picture book and one that won my heart the instant I read it.

Leon has moved house; he lives with his mum and his dad is away in the army.  Leon is lonely so he creates Bob, an imaginary friend who only he can see.

‘He always walked to school with Bob.
He always had Bob to talk to.’

On Saturday Leon looks to the house next door and he sees a new family moving in and a boy just like him. Leon keeps thinking about the boy and decides in the morning to visit the boy but only if Bob goes too.

But Bob leaves Leon just as he is about to ring the door bell and Leon must summon up his courage to do it alone.

‘Leon rang the bell and waited.
The door opened.
“Hello,” said the boy.’

The ending to this beautiful picture book is just gorgeous as Leon makes a ‘real’ friend and guess what his ‘real’ friend’s name is…?

Simon James’ watercolour-and-ink illustrations are simply divine, his characters and settings are so realistic. I adore his use of light in the illustrations and the shadows that his characters cast. There is an image of Leon walking up the steps to the neighbour’s house – the steps and the house seem so huge and Leon so small with his little shadow beside him on the stairs. The elongated format of the picture book also helps give that sense of being small and longing.

Just like what I see in Ned’s eyes though, the story is not sad – it is happy and hopeful. The endpapers sum up the story perfectly, at the front of the book the park that spreads over the double page is quiet and empty and on the last double spread Leon and his new friend are playing soccer, gleeful to have found each other.

Simon James has written and illustrated many critically acclaimed beautiful picture books, he has a fantastic website which contains many of his lovely illustrations and a bio. I love this quote…

“Watching children draw, it is easy to see drawing as a natural joy, well beyond criticism or judgement. It’s a kind of conversation with one’s self.
Drawing is good for you.”

There are some really gorgeous picture books about friendship and I have many more favorites that I will write about over the next couple of weeks. But now I’m off to admire my Stephenie Meyer boxset that arrived from the US today – yippee!

||Leon and Bob is available from Amazon||

||The official Charlie and Lola website||

||Charlie and Lola loveliness at the We Heart Books store||